A holiday cheese ball is the perfect addition to any appetizer spread. It’s fairly simple and can easily be turned festive! If you’ve never had or made a cheese ball before, it has a base of soft cheese and can be flavored using any number of other cheeses or toppings. The soft base makes it spreadable but also moldable – for Thanksgiving, we’ll mold this one into a pumpkin!
For this recipe, we used two blocks of Greek yogurt cream cheese rather than regular cream cheese – bumping up the protein by four times! Using this instead of regular cream cheese can also help balance blood sugar and reduce saturated fats. This cream cheese may be a little tricky to find, but we’ve had luck at Walmart and Wegmans.
In addition to Greek yogurt cream cheese, this recipe uses shredded cheddar, fresh thyme, and black pepper, the perfect flavors for fall! When we said this recipe was easy to make, we meant it! All it requires is combining all of the ingredients in a stand mixer, molding it into a ball, wrapping with cling wrap, and refrigerating for an hour before serving. It really can’t get any easier than that! Of course, you don’t have to mold this into a ball or turn it into a pumpkin – it’s a great recipe year-round! And, you can try swapping out the cheddar for other cheeses or thyme for different seasonings and create your own flavor combination. The possibilities really are endless with this one.
You can make this ahead of time and leave it in the refrigerator until it is time to serve, but it shouldn’t be made more than a day in advance. Similarly, leftovers can be stored in the cling wrap or an airtight container in the fridge. There are so many ways to serve your Thanksgiving cheese ball! Sliced vegetables, whole wheat crackers, fruit, pita chips… the sky’s the limit!
Take a look at these other recipes:
For more Thanksgiving inspired recipe tips, take a look at this blog called 8 Diabetes Friendly Holiday Dishes for a Low Carb Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving Cheese Ball
Ingredients
- 2 8 oz blocks greek yogurt cream cheese
- 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
- 2 tbsp thyme fresh, chopped
- 1 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- In a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, combine all ingredients and beat until smooth.
- Use a spatula to scrape cream cheese mixture onto the center of a large piece of cling wrap. Form cream cheese into a ball and close cling wrap tightly around the ball. Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Cut the stem off of a bell pepper. Remove cheese ball from fridge. Remove cling wrap and place on serving tray. Press stem onto top of cheese ball. Serve with crackers and/or veggies.
Nutrition
Please note:
Nutrition info is approximate and may contain errors.
Please let us know what you think of our Holiday Cheese Ball in the comments section below.
An award winning recipe developer, Dietitian Kaitlin’s mission is to empower others to reach their health goals by encouraging them to get back into the kitchen. Co-author of Nourished: 10 Ingredients to Happy, Healthy Eating and Cooking with Diabetes.
